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Friday, September 2, 2011

GUEST POST: Jaz Primo (with Sunrise at Sunset Giveaway!)

Good morning, all, and welcome to our next stop on the Romancing Your Dark Side Paranormal Book Tour! Joining us today is the amazing Jaz Primo, who has been gracious enough to offer one lucky reader the chance to win a copy of his latest, Sunrise at Sunset. Full details following Jaz's guest post!

Jaz is an author, history aficionado, "pun-master", and all-around fan of things vampire and urban fantasy. Fueled by an active imagination, cold Coca-Cola, and chocolate, he strives to bring a new voice to today's array of vampire fiction. He's an avid book worm, resulting in the constant tug-of-war between reading and writing his next novel. When not pouring over a keyboard or Kindle, Jaz can be found tending a veggie garden or casting a variety of colorful lures into bodies of water as he urges the bass to bite, often using his best fish puns. He has enjoyed a fulfilling background and career in higher education, including his passionate hobby of teaching U.S. History classes during evenings. He is a native of Oklahoma where he lives with his wife and a talkative, long-lived cat.

We vampires are focused and tend to shape our own realities. My name is Katrina Rawlings, and I am a vampire. I declare that with neither pride nor ego. I am simply nature's most dangerous predator. On occasion, it's a very valuable quality. It helped me protect Caleb Taylor one day when he was very young. But that single, traumatic day is behind him now; wiped from his memory, or so I hope. Caleb has finally matured into a rather striking young man, and believe me, I like what I see. I'll readily admit that there are issues for us to confront and overcome, though a sense of mutual commitment isn't one of them. I'm feeling hopeful for our future together, in fact. But an adversary from my past has returned to haunt me, and she's trying to get back at me through Caleb. That was her first...and last...mistake. I'll protect my Caleb at all costs, and I'll make her regret the day she was born. So, I suppose that I'm not just a vampire. I'm about to become someone's worst nightmare!

I'm Jaz Primo, author of the urban fantasy/paranormal Sunset Vampire Series, and I have an important question for you. What is it about the eternal struggle the exists between gratifying novel reading and obsessive novel writing? Seriously, why do both options have to be so wonderfully tempting, and yet so divisive to my limited availability of time?

I live and breathe words, but sometimes it's so hard for a word-slave to serve two mistresses! I've been an avid reader since childhood. And yet, I began my creative writing endeavors in elementary school, as well. Since those formative years, the eternal struggle between wanting to lose myself in novel after novel versus the hunger to write the Great American novel has battled within me. In a repetitive ballet of vacillation, I have submitted to one or the other for varying periods, ultimately immersing myself in fantasy and sci-fi novels for months on end. Before I knew it, the fire shifted on ethereal winds of change, and I was once more propelled into the realm of literary creation, carefully resisting the temptation to pick up a novel for fear that another author's voice would influence my own work.

My internal muse takes on many roles, ranging from tantalization to insistence, as she either teases me or propels me through the creative process. Sometimes my muse is a shy debutante in a tantalizing dress and high heels who teases me into sitting down at the keyboard. Other times, she slips into a Lycra bodysuit and black stilettos, grabs her whip, and forces me awake in the middle of the night, propelling me to the keyboard amidst the methodical click, click, click of her spiked heels as she paces with satisfaction, ensuring my devotion to the creations at hand. My eyes attempt to flutter shut, but I feel her fingernails scratch across my skin, and she whispers, "Type, my love...while you still can."

Yes, writing is a lifelong pleasure that's occasionally mixed with equal amounts of pain. Lack of sleep and intermittent meals, coupled with insistent visions of what must be written, makes for endless hours of dedication to the progression of one's literary art. But in the end, there are few pleasures greater and more self-satisfying than beholding a completed manuscript before me. It truly is the "graduation" of my work from mere imaginative vapors to a tangible, powerful novel! Only then can my attentions be diverted once again to my Kindle, stuffed with numerous tempting files waiting to be devoured by my eyes and digested by my mind.

Then SWISH and CRACK goes the whip once more!

Oh, yes...the novel must be edited...numerous times over, no doubt, before the graduation is truly complete. *Click, click, click go my muse's heels for some time longer*

Of course, there are obviously also occasions where a novel wins the battle for supremacy over my attention. *winking* But what kind of novel could manage to do that, you ask? Anytime that a new novel in the Saga of Recluce Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is available, I'm definitely devoting the necessary hours to devour it in short order. The Recluce Series is undoubtedly among the most cherished books in my collection of favorites. Not to sound overly cliché, but once I tasted Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, I was immediately hooked, and had to read the entire series in one continuous stretch. Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series likewise commanded my attention from beginning to end, though I had to wait brief periods until the final two novels in the series were released. Finally, *grinning* I was enticed by G.C. Scott's erotic novel, His Mistress's Voice, which quickly became a sinful favorite of mine. Each of these novels embodied the power to distract me from my oft-demanding muse, or at least, on occasions when my muse's charms were momentarily weakened. However, I believe that I'm a richer author for having been exposed to, and inspired by, the quality of those wonderful literary works.

In truth, one of the tenants of being an effective, accomplished writer is being an avid reader. You can learn so much about the writing craft (character development, dialogue pacing, description, and story flow) by being well-read. It's also very useful to help recharge your imagination by giving it a break from your own writing endeavors. As with the successful growth of your body's muscles, an occasional break from even a dedicated workout regimen is required for healthy development. Ah, but how the act of composing a manuscript is so sweetly addictive, much like composing a great symphony. *pausing* Okay, so maybe I've never actually composed a great symphony, but I can imagine that it might feel that way! *winking* So, I say to you, take the time to give into the temptation to read...often! Then when your muse finally seeks you out your imagination will be well-prepared for the creative task at hand, and the final product will be worthy of distracting someone else's attention. *smiling*

I appreciate your attentions, and I hope that you've enjoyed our little chat. My sincere thanks to Sally and Bibrary Book Lust for the opportunity to spend time with you. I hope that you will follow me and my fellow band of talented paranormal authors on our continuing Romancing Your Dark Side Paranormal Blog Tour. Just stop by the Virtual Book Cafe to see the listing of sites that we'll be visiting through October 31st.
Peace.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

If Jaz sounds like your kind of author, and Sunrise at Sunset sounds like the kind of story you'd love to get your hands on a copy of your very own, then you're in luck! Jaz has offered one lucky reader their choice of either an eBook copy or a signed trade paperback copy!

5 comments:

I have really enjoyed following along with the the virtual book tour cafe. It has been fun getting to know a little about the authors and why they write what they write. Thank you for letting us get a look into your lives. Take care and have and awesome Labor day Weekend...

@ Natasha, Tich, Nikki:Thanks so much for your support, and I 'm glad that you liked my posting! The best part of this blog tour has been the opportunity to meet thoughtful vampire readers just like you!